Coronavirus Notebook: Part 2

In barely a week, so much has changed.  As the virus continues to gallop through the country, Brazos Towers has instituted new rules.  The dining room is closed.  Thursday night we had our "last supper" together.  Now we turn in our menu choices and meals are delivered to our doors.  No one can visit, not even immediate family.  Only caregivers are allowed in.

When I wake up in the morning, I find it hard to know what day of the week it is.  In my real life (aka normal life) I have a regular schedule:  Monday, volunteer; Tuesday, memoir class and Mah Jongg, and so on.  Now, with no schedule, I wake up uncertain what I should do.

I wonder, could their be Chronicle thieves lurking around? When we pick up our newspapers, someone at the front desk checks off our names and apartment numbers.  I know today is Sunday because I have a big newspaper.  Today's Chronicle included a 48-page Super Puzzle Book to keep subscribers entertained.

Yesterday I saw residents wandering around the lobby looking dazed. Not surprising.  We have gone back in time.  We are living in a surreal world that belongs in the Middle Ages.

My children have warned me to avoid going in the elevator if it is full.  They remind me to wash my hands.  I assure them I wash, singing "Happy Birthday" twice, so often that I'm surprised I haven't washed off my skin.

I have stocked up on prescriptions and groceries, especially ice cream.  I have a 25-pound box of cat litter.  And speaking of the cat,  she is causing a toilet paper problem.  She lives to jump up and unroll the toilet paper.  I have tried explaining the situation to her, but, typical feline, she doesn't listen.

We still can play bridge and canasta in the downstairs lounge.  Apparently it's safe to touch playing cards that someone else has handled.  Mah Jongg games are still going on, the click, click, click of tiles sounding from across the room.

The weather has changed from springlike to cool and rainy, or so I heae.  My last outing was over a week ago to the dentist for my regular cleaning.  My children were horrified.  "The hygienist is going to get in your face," they shrieked.

I am over 200 pages into the Thomas Cromwell book.  He's now Lord Cromwell and is not as likeable as he was in the two earlier novels.  I suppose all that power has gone to his head, even though the Duke of Norfolk reminds him that he's lowborn, the son of a blacksmith.  Apparently, even in Henry VIII"s day there was social mobility if you are clever enough.  Henry, by the way, has disposed of Anne Boleyn and is now happily married to Jane Seymour...for the moment.

Kevin Bacon has started an initiative called Six Degrees to promote social distancing, and who better than Kevin Bacon to come up with that?  He asks people to tag six friends and post to #SixDegrees so he can share posts.

Stay safe at home, everyone, and keep in touch.